Some form of written information accompanies most products that are manufactured and sold today. In some cases the amount of information is limited and it can suffice to provide the carton with text. There are, however, several cases when, for one reason or another, it is desirable to enclose a separate information sheet or the like. These reasons can, for example, be that there is not sufficient space on the carton, that it is not appropriate to have the written information on the product's carton or that it is a question of a coupon that is intended to be sent off. The information can be of widely varying types and can, for example, be instructions for use of a product, content declarations, dosage instructions, advertising or warning texts. In some cases there is a large amount of information that needs to be printed out and accompany the product, for example when it is a question of a pharmaceutical preparation. In this case, it is normally a question of relatively small cartons and the instructions for use that accompany the product often contain a relatively large amount of text that, in addition, must sometimes be printed in several languages.
A common way of enclosing this information with the product is currently to put a leaflet in the carton at the same time as the product, normally contained in a pot or tube, is packed into the carton. The leaflet is in most cases a folded sheet of paper which, after folding, is designed to fit in the carton. U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,060 describes a common method for inserting the leaflet into the carton together with the product (a tube or pot). The carton is transported on a conveyor belt which, at least for certain parts, runs parallel with another conveyor belt which transports the product. These two conveyor belts are synchronized in such a way that the product can be inserted into the open carton by an inserting mechanism that pushes the product into the carton in a direction at right angles to the direction of transportation. Between the conveyor belt for the carton and the conveyor belt for the product there is a leaflet holder supported on a chain which is synchronized with the other two conveyor belts and positions a leaflet that is held in the leaflet holder between the product and the carton. When the product, the leaflet and the carton are in a synchronized position, the inserting mechanism pushes the product into the carton and together with this pushes the leaflet into the carton, while at the same time the leaflet is folded.
A current problem with this method is of synchronizing the process and of placing the leaflet in position to be pushed into the carton in a reliable way. A precondition for succeeding with this is that the leaflet must be placed correctly in the right position in the leaflet holder. Leaflets can be relatively difficult to handle, as they normally consist of a folded sheet of thin paper, which is easily disturbed and moved out of position during transportation or while transferring it between the various transportation devices in the cartoning machine, which is particularly difficult at the high speeds of production that are required in modern machines. If the leaflet is askew in the holder, it can result in the leaflet being crumpled or being torn when it is inserted into the carton together with the product, which can result in an expensive stoppage, repackaging of products or rejection of the packaged product.
CA 2 457 764 describes a device for transferring a leaflet from a folding machine to a leaflet holder. The machine sets and adjusts the feeding forward of the leaflets depending upon the size of the leaflet and positions the leaflet in relation to the leaflet holder for delivering the leaflet to the holders. After the speed and position of the leaflet feeder and the conveyor belt with the leaflet holders have been synchronized, the machine operates with these settings. In spite of the fact that the machine is thus set to work correctly for a particular format, there is, however, no guarantee that it will work correctly if the leaflets are not fed correctly out of the folding machine. In the example described and in most cases, the feed device from this machine consists of a conveyor belt. With such a feed device, it can be the case that a leaflet is not fed out the same way each time but can end up askew on the conveyor belt. In CA 2 457 764 there is nothing described that can compensate for such a fault. Nor is it possible to compensate during transportation for a more systematic fault if the feed device consistently feeds out leaflets from the folding machine askew. The fact that a leaflet has been fed out from the folding machine askew will result in the leaflet being placed askew in the holder.
There is thus still a need for an improved method and device for placing a leaflet correctly in a leaflet holder in a cartoning machine and thereby being able to insert it in a carton in a reliable way.